First Collab Stream

I knew the future.

It was limited to three years, but knowing the rise and fall of the internet broadcasting scene through its madly turbulent upheavals—that was something the word "incredible" couldn't begin to capture.

The problem was that "I" was an irregular in that scene. I was constantly fretting over whether my presence might twist the future that had already been set. There was a perfectly apt term for it: the butterfly effect.

Which was exactly why the note from streamer Oh Yeong-jun was more than enough to throw me into turmoil.

If it had just been some no-name bottom-tier streamer, I would've brushed it off without a second thought.

I'd poked at it a little, but the core of the message was a collab request. Nothing strange about that—joint streams with multiple streamers were an extremely common format. The problem was the timing and the person involved.

This is someone who needs to stay dead quiet for the next few months. Already? It's no skin off my back, but if this ends up changing the future…

Right now, Oh Yeong-jun was a named bottom-tier streamer barely scraping three-digit average viewers. But later, through a massive piece of content, he would soar in spectacular fashion—someone who would leave a considerable mark not only on Pangea TV but on virtual streamers as a whole.

Naturally, I couldn't help but deliberate. Just how much would this connection twist the future? If the future I knew shifted too drastically, the big picture I'd already planned might fall apart.

In the end, it's a choice between the present and the future.

Pursue stability, or make a more adventurous play? Nobody knew the right answer. That judgment would only come once the results were in.

After stewing over it for a long while, I quietly hit the reply button on the note and started writing. Every man has the heart of a beast. Rather than cling to immediate safety, I thought of the Oh Yeong-jun who would blow up in the future—and decided to go all in.

To the moon! Let's gooooo!

Accepting the collab with Oh Yeong-jun was the product of several complicated calculations. Did anyone really think I'd decided on a gambler's whim?

First was the aggro.

A virtual streamer already soaking up maximum attention collabs with a human streamer? Viewers flocking to a fresh setup that had never been tried on Pangea TV before was a given. Come on—would an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠internet broadcast audience sit that out? Absolutely not.

Second was a high-quality sandbag.

Today I was picking up the content the chat had derailed yesterday, and given the big-name streamer connection, the viewers were definitely going to go harder on me than before. I'd fretted about plenty of things after yesterday's stream ended, but deciding on the collab with Oh Yeong-jun lifted a lot of that weight.

He might get called a named bottom-tier, but Oh Yeong-jun was a proper eleven-year veteran. In the streaming world, that kind of career put him among a select few. On top of that, his network was wide—he was on friendly terms with just about every major corporate streamer out there.

I was going to plant that Oh Yeong-jun as the sandbag for this content. An opportunity to scatter the risk while harvesting every sweet fruit the aggro produced.

You don't gamble carelessly. I only bet on games where I've got an edge.

Of course, Oh Yeong-jun had his own angle too. The note was plastered with every flowery phrase imaginable—how he'd always been interested in virtual streamers, how he wanted to get close—but I didn't buy any of it wholesale.

I'm hot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now, so he wants to stick a straw in and take a sip. Painfully obvious.

It was a pattern I'd seen countless times as a viewer in this industry. I didn't think badly of it. I was weighing his utility myself, after all. Put simply, it was adult business—a relationship where both sides could take their cut.

Turning that over in my head, I briefly locked down our positions with Oh Yeong-jun over Discord before the stream.

The scheduled collab time arrived in a blink. Three in the afternoon—another strategic choice. Push the time later and the platform's overall user count would climb, but I'd risk overlapping with the regular broadcast slots of the major corporate streamers. Dip only an ankle into the golden hours and aim for maximum empty-house looting.

Hoo. Let's go.

The now-familiar stream standby screen filled my vision, and a retro-arcade BGM began to play.

Familiar nicknames were starting to show up one by one—the shape of a regular fanbase was beginning to form. Only day three, and I was already getting ahead of myself?

I gave the viewers about four minutes to settle in, then switched to the screen with my avatar visible. I wanted to throw special effects on the transition too, but my account balance had already dwindled to two million won, so I barely held myself back. Rent was due this month, living expenses too—I was starting to feel the squeeze. Which was exactly why fundraising had to be counted as one of a streamer's talents. Building a quality broadcast required so much investment.

For that very reason, I went for it bold.

"Seoha, seoha! Oppas. Something about ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this afternoon just makes me want a luxury bag."

Ahem. The reaction was vicious. Time to retreat.

Savoring the sharp Candies pouring in at eighteen-unit intervals, I sent Oh Yeong-jun a Discord call request.

"As announced in advance, today's content will be a collab stream. Everyone knows streamer Oh Yeong-jun, right? I'll bring him in right now. Moshi moshi~"

"Hello. Streamer Oh Yeong-jun here. I mostly do LoL streams, thirty-one years old this year. Currently single, so please show me lots of interest."

"Huk?! Thirty-one? You're a total ajusshi!"

"Hey! What do you mean uncle— ahem. Got a bit excited there. I am a little older, but I'm not an ajusshi. I've got a fairly young face, too."

"Ung? I'm twenty-three though. When ajusshi was in college I was in elementary school."

"Ahaha! First time meeting and Seo-a already talks so entertainingly."

"Don't tell me I got under your skin?"

"……."

A sidelong glance at chat showed the reactions were good. Yeah—just keep it like this.

Modulating the intensity just enough, I spent about ten minutes icebreaking before the content. Before I knew it, the viewer count had broken five thousand. I had no idea when this bubble would pop, but it was a truly staggering number. Back before I regressed, virtual streamers who could hit five thousand viewers were so rare you could count them on one hand.

"Alright, let's begin the content from here. First, shall we check the table of contents?"

"Yes. But just a moment—I have something to say to the viewers. I've been pretty loose with chat moderation so far, but today's topic can get sensitive, so please be careful, everyone. In particular, any disparaging remarks about other streamers will result in immediate kicks and blacklists."

Until now I'd left it alone for lack of reliable manpower, but today I'd spoken to Oh Yeong-jun in advance and gotten temporary manager support. A quick check of the roster showed forty-seven people had already been kicked within fifteen minutes of going live. Truly a wild chat window.

With the chat now a layer softer, the real content began. A PPT filled the screen. I'd handled the research and material myself, but I'd left the clean PPT production to a professional. Money, money, money! Everything came down to money. I could have run it on a janky self-made PPT, but as someone putting out content every single day, I simply didn't have the time. Right now, no matter what anyone said, was the period to run.

The slides transitioned smoothly and lit up the table of contents.

Items one and two were the ones I'd barely ground through and finished on yesterday's stream. And below them, the long-awaited number three appeared.

3. Pangea TV's Representative Streamers.

The moment that needed a sandbag had arrived.